Blog Training and How-To Guide for Business Blogging

Continuing this week's series on controversy, Dan Smith, Know More Media General Manager and staff writer, show's an example of effective use of controversy.

This week, we’ve been stirring the pot of controversy here on Inside.KnowMoreMedia. Easton talked about why controversy can be good for your blog, and Kimberlee talked about how the blogger can write in a controversial manner. Another major element of controversy in blogging is picking controversial topics. It is one thing to write in a controversial way, and it is another thing to cover controversial topics in your blogging: both can be very effective.

Critical things to remember concerning controversial topics:

• For anything that’s not a proven fact, make sure you denote it as such, using phrases such as “allegedly” or “reportedly.” Few things will hurt your credibility more than presenting things as facts that are not actually facts. Also, there could be legal repercussions from the involved parties.
• You can cover controversial topics without being offensive. You don’t have to be controversial yourself to effectively write about a controversial topic.
• How do you find controversial topics? Many times, you find them the same place you find the hot buzz topics. As we all know, much of the time you can pick just about any buzz topic and find some way to apply it to your blog. Also, keep your ear to the ground on the various news sites for your blog topic, looking for those controversies.